Opinion Brief: Thursday, July 28, 2016

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. The president acknowledged Wednesday, July 27, 2016, that his hopes for a new tone in politics, embodied in the rousing Democratic convention speech he delivered 12 years ago, never materialized. Still, he says he remains undaunted. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Tonight’s Opinion Brief is brought to you by the Canadian Red Cross. Canadians can be proud of their efforts to assist those affected by the Alberta Fires.
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Good evening, subscribers. As television, there really was no comparison between the Republican and Democratic conventions. The Dems had Streep, Cooper, Silverman and a sulking Sarandon. The GOP had Donald Trump … and Scott Baio. The Donald does not like to share a stage with anyone cooler than he is.

But as Tasha Kheiriddin argues tonight, the United States may have entered a stage in its descent into anti-elite animus where even popular musicians and actors — the people occupying the penthouse level of society — have become political liabilities. “The celebrities out stumping for Hillary are part of the same 1 per cent that many anti-establishment voters want to punish in this election. A similar situation presented itself during the Brexit referendum, when hundreds of celebrities — including J.K. Rowling and Daniel Craig — unsuccessfully implored voters to remain in the EU.”

Alan Freeman reports on the coming collapse of much of Canada’s urban real estate market — and how successive federal and provincial governments share the blame for the truly dangerous market bubbles in the Vancouver and Toronto housing sectors. “Blindly encouraging the residential real estate market isn’t cost-free for the economy at large. For the sake of generational equity and the long-term economic health of Vancouver and Toronto, home prices need to come down — a lot.”

Ilona Dougherty’s been watching the Republican and Democratic conventions, like the rest of us. She believes the people who’ve been dumping on the Bernie Bros and bemoaning the split in the GOP may be overstating the risks involved in loud public debate — and underestimating the value of sticking to your guns. “What matters more, party unity or encouraging debate among diverse voices? The right answer ought to be ‘both.'”